Needle

ABSTRACT

A needle for delivering filamentary material to work which is pierced by the needle. The needle has an elongated blade which terminates at one end in a sharp pointed tip which is adapted to puncture through the work while delivering the filamentary material thereto. The blade has opposed faces and fixedly carries at one of the latter faces a partition which extends longitudinally of the blade from the tip thereof and which is situated between the opposed side edges of the blade. The partition terminates in an outer free edge which is inclined to and merges with the tip of the blade, and this partition is formed in the region of the tip with an open eye which contains the filamentary material and is designed to allow free access to the material and within which the filamentary material is adapted to extend. Just rearwardly of the open eye the partition carries at opposite sides thereof a pair of tubular guides for the filamentary material so that these tubular guides prevent direct contact between the filamentary material and the work until the needle is withdrawn from the work.

United States Patent [1 1 Herr [ NEEDLE [76] Inventor: Nicholas George Herr, 450 E. 63rd St., New York, N.Y. 10021 [22] Filed: Aug. 4, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 277,944

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2/1957 Le Szen 223/102 10/1964 Mount 3/1970 Matthews 112/222 Primary Examiner-Patrick D. Lawson Attorney- Alex Friedman, Harold 1. Kaplan et al.

571 ABSTRACT A needle for delivering filamentary material to work 1 1 Aug. 28, 1973 which is pierced by the needle. The needle has an elongated blade which terminates at one end in a sharp pointed tip which is adapted to puncture through the work while delivering the filamentary material thereto. The blade has opposed faces and fixedly carries at one of the latter faces a partition which extends longitudinally of the blade from the tip thereof and which is situated between the opposed side edges of the blade. The partition terminates in an outer free edge which is inclined to and merges with the tip of the blade, and this partition is formed in the region of the tip with an open eye which contains the filamentary material and is designed to allow free access to the material and within 'which the filamentary material is adapted to extend.

Just rearwardly of the open eye the partition carries at opposite sides thereof a pair of tubular guides for the filamentary material so that these tubular guides prevent direct contact between the filamentary material and the work until the needle is withdrawn from the work.

9 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures NEEDLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to needles.

Thus, the present invention relates to needles designed to puncture through various materials such as fabric, leather, wood, etc., while depositing a filamentary material at the work, this filamentary material taking the form of thread, cord, wire, etc.

While conventional needles are designed to carry out operations such as delivering stitches of different types to the work, the conventional needles suffer from several drawbacks. Conventional needles cannot be depended upon to accurately deposit the filamentary material at the work. In addition, with conventional needles the filamentary material directly engages the work during puncturing of the latter by the needle so that an undesirabl sawing takes place between the filamentary material and the work resulting in the fonnation of ragged unprecise openings in the work for accommodating the filamentary material and resulting not only in damage to the work but also in damage to the filamentary material itself. A conventional needle eye allows formation of the loop only after the needle has begun to be withdrawn.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is accordingly a primary object of the present invention to provide a needle which will avoid the above drawbacks.

In particular, it is an object of the invention to provide a needle which is capable of precisely puncturing through the work while at the same time preventing direct contact between the work and the filamentary material until the needle is withdrawn from the work.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a needle which will enable the filamentary material to slip easily with respect to the needle so that frictional resistance to movement of the filamentary material with respect to the needle is greatly reduced as compared with conventional needles.

A t'urther object of the present invention is to provide a needle which not only will guide the filamentary material for movement with respect to the needle but which also will permit easy access to the filamentary material, easy formation of loops and easy threading of filamentary material with respect to the needle.

Furthermore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a needle of the above type which can be made in various sizes and which can be part of a hand tool or which can be attached to a machine so that the needle of the invention can be used either for handsewing operations or for machine-sewing operations.

According to the invention the needle includes an elongated blade which terminates at one end in a sharp pointed tip which is adapted to puncture through the work while delivering filamentary material thereto. The elongated blade has a pair of opposed faces one of which is fixed to an elongated partition which extends longitudinally of the blade perpendicularly from the latter one face thereof and terminates in an outer free edge which is inclined to and merges with the sharp pointed tip of the blade. At the region of the tip the partition is formed with a notched or hook-shaped recess forming an open eye through which the filamentary material is adapted to pass, and just to the rear of the open eye the partition carries on opposite sides a pair of elongated tubular guides for the filamentary material. These tubular guides prevent direct contact between the filamentary material and the work until the blade is withdrawn from the work.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS The invention is illustrated by way of example in the accompanying drawings which form part of this application and in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective illustration of the needle of the present invention as it appears when viewed from one side thereof;

FIG. 2 is a perspective illustration of the needle of FIG. I as it appears when looking toward the side thereof which is not visible in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partly sectional top plan view of the needle fragmentarily illustrating the part thereof located in the region of the tip and just to the rear of the tip, the section of FIG. 3 being taken in a plane which contains the axes of a pair of tubular guides which are referred to below;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of the needle of the invention as it appears when looking toward the side visible in FIG. 1, FIG. 4 showing partly in section the front end region of one of the tubular guides and also showing in dot-dash lines the manner in which the filamentary material and needle move one with respect to the other;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are transverse sectional elevations respectively taken along lines 5-5 and 6-6 of FIG. 3 in the direction of the arrows; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective illustration of the needle simi lar to FIG. I but illustrating how the needle and filamentary material move with respect to each other during sewing operations to form and release a loop.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS While in the description which follows and in the drawings there is a disclosure of a needle which has a flat blade, it is to be understood that the invention is equally applicable to a needle which has a rounded or curved blade. The needle of the invention is capable of accurately puncturing through various materials such as fabrics, leather, wood, and the like, while at the same time precisely depositing a length of filamentary material which may take the fonn of thread, cord, wire, etc. The needle of the invention may be manufactured in relatively small versions where it is suitable for sewing either by hand or by machine. When attached to a simple hand-held device, the needle of the invention is capable of delivering a single stitch or, in conjunction with a proper machine, a continuous, lock stitch can be delivered.

The needle of the invention may also be manufactured in sturdy, large versions where it can be utilized as-a tool similar to an awl for delivering devices. such as metal staples or electrical wires, which are also intended to be covered by the expression filamentary material." In such large sturdy versions the needle of the invention may be fashioned in a manner similar in shape (rounded) to a nail where it can be permanently driven into hard material such as wood or concrete so as to serve as a passageway for wires.

FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings illustrate the needle of the invention as it appears from opposite sides, respectively, FIGS. 1 and 2 showing only that part of the needle to which the invention applies. The structure shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is adapted to be attached to known structure from which the needle projects, this latter known structure containing a supply of filamentary material which is delivered to the needle from a suitable spool carried by the structure to which the needle is attached in a well known manner.

Thus, referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the needle of the invention includes an elongated blade which has a pair of opposed faces 12 and 14. The face 12 forms the upper face of the blade 10 while the face 14 forms the lower face thereof and is shown in FIGS. 46. The blade 10 in the illustrated example is flat and straight, although it can be rounded and curved, if desired, as pointed out above. The blade 10 has a pair of opposed side edges 16 and 18 which are sharp cutting edges and capable of easily cutting through the work.

The blade 10 terminates at one end in the sharp, pointed tip 20 where the side edges 16 and 18 meet.

Fixed to the face 12, as by being formed integrally therewith, is a partition 22 which projects perpendicularly from the face 12 and is situated midway between the opposed side edges 16 and 18 of the blade 10, this partition 22 extending longitudinally along the blade 10 rearwardly from the tip thereof. The partition 22 has distant from the face 12 of the blade 10 a rounded free edge 24 which in the region of the tip 20 is inclined with respect to and merges into the tip 20. At this region of the partition 22 which is provided with the inclined free edge portion 26, the partition 22 is formed with the open eye 28 within which the filamentary material 30 lies. The edge which defines the open eye 28 is also rounded, as is particularly apparent from FIG. 3, so that the filamentary material 30 slips easily with respect to the edge which defines the open eye 28.

It is to be noted that the open eye 28 interrupts the free edge 24 of the partition 22, particularly at the inclined portion 26 of this free edge, and the uppermost part of the eye is defined by a substantially hookshaped portion 32 of the free edge 24 which prevents material in open eye 28 from being disrupted during insertion of needle.

Just to the rear of the open eye 28 the partition 22 fixedly carries a pair of tubular guides 34 and 36 which may be formed integrally with the partition 22 and with the blade especially when the latter is curved. These tubular guides 34 and 36 extend longitudinally of the blade 10 along the opposite sides of the partition 22 directly at the region of the face 12 of the blade 10. The filamentary material which is delivered from a spool carried by known structure situated just behind and fixed to the needle at the end thereof opposite from the tip 20 is guided through the tubular guides 34 and 36 with part of the filamentary material 30 extending around the edge of the open eye 28 at the front, as a substantially U-shaped portion of the filamentary material 30 which projects from the front end of each guide, in the manner shown most clearly in FIG. 3. v

In the example illustrated the tubular guide 34 forms a complete tube for completely enclosing the part of the filamentary material which extends through the tubular guide 34, while the tubular guide 36 is formed with an outer elongated cutout 38 which extends along the entire length of the tubular guide 36 distant from the partition 22, as is shown most clearly in FIG. 2, so that the tubular guide 36 only partially encloses the filamentary material 30. V

In order to facilitate access to the filamentary material, the tubular guide 34 is formed at the region of its front end which is nearest to the open eye 28 with an elongated notch 40 situated directly next to the parti tion 22 and communicating with an elongated indentation 42 formed in the partition 22 and extending perpendicularly with respect to the face 12 of the blade 10. This notch can extend down through and perforate the blade, if desired.

Thus, with the above-described needle of the invention it is a simple matter to thread the filamentary material 30 from the spool through the tubular guide 34, then through the open eye 28 and finally through the tubular guide 36. The fact that the open eye 28 interrupts the free edge 24 of the partition 22, particularly at the inclined region 26 of the free edge 24, enables a loop 44 of the filamentary material to be formed by movement of this loop centrally with respect to the needle, as contrasted with those structures where the loop must be formed on one side or on the other side of the needle, and of course the open eye 28 facilitates the placement of the filamentary material because it is open along a portion of the edge 26. FIG. 4 illustrates how the filamentary material is guided within the open eye 28 during formation of the loop 44, and FIG. 7 shows how in some cases it is possible to use a hooked instrument 46 to facilitate the release of the loop 44 before or during withdrawal of the needle from the work. FIG. 7 shows how the released loop can be pulled in any direction after it has cleared hook 32, an operation especially desirable in over stitching.

It is to be noted that while only the tubular guide 36 is shown as partly enclosing the filamentary material, both of the tubular guides may have the structure of the tubular guide 36 if desired.

Also, both of the tubular guides may completely enclose the filamentary material, if desired. With any of these constructions, the structure of the invention achieves the advantage of preventing damaging of the work by the filamentary material as well as damaging the filamentary material by the work. In other words, because the filamentary material is enclosed within the tubular guides during puncturing of the work by the needle a length of the filamentary material can be passed through the work without sawing" of the work by the filamentary material so that ragged edges of the work at the openings through which the filamentary material passes are reliably avoided, and at the same time damage to the filamentary material itself is reliably avoided. It is only when the needle of the invention is withdrawn from the work that the loop which remains at the work extending through the opening formed by puncturing of the work with the needle comes into contact with the work. The hook-head configuration 32 at the open eye 28 of the needle reduces possible damage to the work itself and facilitates the slipping of the filamentary material as it is pulled within the instrument, this slipping also being facilitated by the rounded edge which defines the open eye 28.

The curvature of the rounded edge which defines the open eye 28 facilitates slipping of the filamentary mate rial with respect to the needle in either direction and greatly facilitates maintaining the filamentary material along the desired path with respect to the needle. The open eye 28 itself is the mechanism by which the filamentary material is released to allow the instrument to be withdrawn. Access to the filamentary material, with an instrument such as the hook 46, for example, is greatly facilitated by the notch 40 and the groove or indentation 42 formed in the partition itself, as well as an appropriate perforation in blade if desired.

With the needle of the invention it is possible to deliver either a single or double length of filamentary material depending upon whether the loop is pulled through or not.

The needle of the invention is capable of being made of any suitable material such as plastic or a suitable steel of the type commonly used for instruments similar to those of the invention. The particular choice of the material will depend upon the size of the needle of the invention and the particular use for which it is designed, these different uses and sizes being referred to above. The above-described needle of the invention is also eminently suitable for surgical purposes in the placement of sutures.

What is claimed is:

l. A needle comprising an elongated blade terminating at one end in a sharp, pointed tip for puncturing through work to which filamentary material is to be delivered by the needle, said blade having a pair of opposed faces, a partition fixed to said blade at one of said faces thereof, extending longitudinally along said one face of said blade between opposed side edges of said blade and rearwardly from said tip thereof, said partition being perpendicular to said one face of said blade and terminating distant from said one face of said blade in an elongated free edge which in the region of said tip is inclined toward and merges into said tip, said partition being formed in the region of said tip with an eye through which the filamentary material is adapted to extend, and said partition having a pair of opposed side faces which respectively carry to the rear of but adjacent said eye a pair of elongated tubular filament guides which extend with said partition longitudinally of said blade and which are adapted to contain the filamentary material to guide the latter while preventing direct contact between the filamentary material and the work until the needle is withdrawn from the work.

2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said eye extends through and interrupts said free edge of said partition.

3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein one of said tubular guides is in the form ofa complete tube for completely enclosing the filamentary material while the other of said tubular guides is fonned with an elongated outer cutout extending along the entire length of said other tubular guide so that the latter only partially encloses the filamentary material passing therethrough.

4. The combination of claim 1 and wherein one of said tubular guides is formed at is end which is closest to said open eye, directly next to said partition, with an elongated notch for facilitating access to the filamentary material.

5. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said blade has cutting edges respectively extending along said 0pposed side edges thereof and meeting at and forming part of said tip.

6. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said blade is flat.

7. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said free edge of said partition is rounded.

8. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said eye has a rounded edge around which the filamentary material is guided from one to the other of said tubular guides.

9. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said opposed side edges of said blade are in the form of sharp cutting edges which meet at said tip, said free edge of said partition being rounded and said eye extending through and interrupting said free edge of said partition to form an open eye, one of said tubular guides forming a complete tube for completely enclosing the filamentary material and the other of said tubular guides being formed with an elongated cutout extending longitudinally of said other tubular guide so that the latter only partially encloses the filamentary material, and said one tubular guide being formed at its end which is nearest to said eye with an elongated notch situated directly next to said partition for facilitating access to the filamentary material.

* a: a: a: 

1. A needle comprising an elongated blade terminating at one end in a sharp, pointed tip for puncturing through work to which filamentary material is to be delivered by the needle, said blade having a pair of opposed faces, a partition fixed to said blade at one of said faces thereof, extending longitudinally along said one face of said blade between opposed side edges of said blade and rearwardly from said tip thereof, said partition being perpendicular to said one face of said blade and terminating distant from said one face of said blade in an elongated free edge which in the region of said tip is inclined toward and merges into said tip, said partition being formed in the region of said tip with an eye through which the filamentary material is adapted to extend, and said partition having a pair of opposed side faces which respectively carry to the rear of but adjacent said eye a pair of elongated tubular filament guides which extend with said partition longitudinally of said blade and which are adapted to contain the filamentary material to guide the latter while preventing direct contact between the filamentary material and the work until the needle is withdrawn from the work.
 2. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said eye extends through and interrupts said free edge of said partition.
 3. The combination of claim 1 and wherein one of said tubular guides is in the form of a complete tube for completely enclosing the filamentary material while the other of said tubular guides is formed with an elongated outer cutout extending along the entire length of said other tubular guide so that the latter only partially encloses the filamentary material passing therethrough.
 4. The combination of claim 1 and wherein one of said tubular guides is formed at is end which is closest to said open eye, directly next to said partition, with an elongated notch for facilitating access to the filamentary material.
 5. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said blade has cutting edges respectively extending along said opposed side edges thereof and meeting at and forming part of said tip.
 6. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said blade is flat.
 7. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said free edge of said partition is rounded.
 8. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said eye has a rounded edge around which the filamentary material is guided from one to the other of said tubular guides.
 9. The combination of claim 1 and wherein said opposed side edges of said blade are in the form of sharp cutting edges which meet at said tip, said free edge of said partition being rounded and said eye extending through and interrupting said free edge of said partition to form an open eye, one of said tubular guides forming a complete tube for completely enclosing the filamentary material and the other of said tubular guides being formed with an elongated cutout extending longitudinally of said other tubular guide so that the latter only partially encloses the filamentary material, and said one tubular guide being formed at its end which is nearest to said eye with an elongated notch situated directly next to said partition for facilitating access to the filamentary material. 